The FIFE Root Biomass data were collected from 16 locations within the FIFE study area during the 1987 growing season. They provide a measure of the below-ground biomass for the study area. Biomass reported as grams per square m assumes that the depth of the core samples is sufficient to include all root biomass under the surface to an infinite depth. Prairie vegetation does possess roots deeper than the 20 cm coring; however, the fraction of total root biomass below 20 cm is minuscule and safely ignored in a study of biomass.
Root Biomass Data (FIFE).
The FIFE Root Biomass data were collected from 16 locations within the FIFE study area during the 1987 growing season. They provide a measure of the below-ground biomass for the study area.
The objective of this investigation was to survey root biomass.
Dry-weight biomass of rhizomes, grass roots and forbe roots.
These data were collected from 16 locations within the FIFE study area during the growing season of 1987. They provide a measure of the below ground biomass for the study area.
ROOT_BIOMASS_DATA.
Dr. Tim R. Seastedt
University of Colorado
Dr. Clarence L. Turner
Kansas State University
The Influence of Grazing on Land Surface Climatological Variables.
Contact 1:
Dr. Alan K. Nelson
NASA Goddard Sp. Fl. Ctr.
Greenbelt, MD
Tel. (301)286-9783
Email: nelson@pldsg3.gsfc.nasa.gov
The Root Biomass data were provided by the staff of Kansas State University.
Biomass reported as grams per square m assumes that the depth of the core samples is sufficient to include all root biomass under the surface to an infinite depth. Prairie vegetation does possess roots deeper than the 20- cm coring depth and those roots below 20 cm are critical to plant survival during periods of drought stress. However, the fraction of total root biomass below 20 cm is minuscule and safely ignored in a study of biomass.
Samples were collected with a soil corer 4.8 cm in diameter, dried in an oven, and weighed on a laboratory scale.
Ground-based.
The soil samples were collected by people on the ground.
The purpose was to measure below-ground biomass.
The manipulated variables represented by this data set are mowing height and frequency (as surrogates for grazing pressure), burn history and supplemental fertilizer application.
Soil samples were extracted from the ground; biomass and mineral soil were then separated. Biomass was separated into component parts, dried and weighed.
A cylinder 4.8 cm in diameter and 20 cm long.
Unknown.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Two 4.8 cm diameter cores to a depth of 20 cm were collected at each sampling site. The cores were composited into one sample. Plant material was separated from soil material by washing and then floating plant material. The techniques are described in detail in Smucker et al. (1982) with modifications by Hayes and Seastadt (1987). The plant material was then separated into rhizomes and roots. The root material subdivided into living and dead grass roots and forbe roots. Material was then oven-dried to constant weight.
Not available.
None.
The FIFE study area, with areal extent of 15 km by 15 km, is located south of the Tuttle Reservoir and Kansas River, and about 10 km from Manhattan, Kansas, USA. The northwest corner of the area has UTM coordinates of 4,334,000 Northing and 705,000 Easting in UTM Zone 14.
The data were collected opportunistically from other studies of simulated grazing pressure (mowing height and frequency), burn history and supplemental fertilization in addition to the sampling done explicitly for the FIFE project. The table below shows the stations where the data were collected:
SITEGRID STN NORTHING EASTING LATITUDE LONGITUDE ELEV
-------- --- -------- ------- -------- --------- ----
0847-RBS 29 4332344 714439 39 06 57 -96 31 11 418
0847-RBS 151 4332377 714419 39 06 58 -96 31 12 415
1246-RBS 40 4331666 714212 39 06 35 -96 31 21 365
1445-RBS 42 4331160 714090 39 06 19 -96 31 27 400
1609-RBS 100 4330786 706889 39 06 13 -96 36 27 332
1916-RBS 150 4330296 708270 39 05 56 -96 35 30 340
2133-RBS 60 4329720 711521 39 05 34 -96 33 15 405
2139-RBS 31 4329843 712789 39 05 37 -96 32 23 385
2139-RBS 152 4329843 712789 39 05 37 -96 32 23 385
2516-RBS 14 4328956 708102 39 05 12 -96 35 38 405
2731-RBS 1 4328625 711102 39 04 59 -96 33 34 446
3129-RBS 8 4327702 710711 39 04 30 -96 33 51 430
3414-RBS 10 4327286 707854 39 04 19 -96 35 51 410
4268-RBS 32 4325626 718579 39 03 15 -96 28 27 445
6912-RBS 19 4320178 707307 39 00 29 -96 36 21 385
8639-RBS 21 4316771 712827 38 58 33 -96 32 36 440
8739-RBS 26 4316699 712845 38 58 31 -96 32 35 442
Note: The exact location of site 66 is not known. It is believed to be adjacent to one of the experimental sites in the Mowing Experiment data set (sitegrid 1916, 0847 or 2139).
Not available.
These were point data.
Not available.
Not available.
Data were collected only during the growing season of 1987 from June 1, 1987 through November 12, 1987. Individual sites were sampled anywhere from one to nine times during this period. Most sites were sampled four or more times, usually during one of the FIFE IFC's in 1987.
Not available.
The samples were collected roughly during IFC's 1, 2 and 4, but the opportunistic nature of many of the plots dictated sampling characteristics based on other studies. The sampling scheme was not of rigid design.
The SQL definition for this table is found in the ROOT_BIO.TDF file located on FIFE CD-ROM Volume 1.
Parameter/Variable Name
Parameter/Variable Description Range Units Source
SITEGRID_ID This is a FIS grid location code. Site grid codes (SSEE-III) give the south (SS) and east (EE) cell number in a 100 x 100 array of 200 m square cells. The last 3 characters (III) are an instrument identifier.
STATION_ID The station ID designating the location of the observations.
OBS_DATE The date of the observations, in the format (DD-MMM-YY).
MOW_HEIGHT If this record is from the mowing height experiment, this column contains the mowed height of the vegetation in cm, otherwise this column is null.
MOW_FREQ If this record is from the mowing frequency experiment, the value is for the number of times the site was mowed during the growing season, otherwise this column is null.
FERTILIZER If this record is from the brome sites of the mowing height experiment this column tells if the site was fertilized, F for fertilized, N for no fertilizer, otherwise this column is null.
BURNED This column tells if the site has been burned, B for burnt, N for not burned.
LIVE_GRASS_ROOT_BIOMASS The below ground biomass from [grams] live grass roots on the day of [meter^-2] observation.
DEAD_GRASS_ROOT_BIOMASS The below ground biomass from [grams] dead grass roots on the day of [meter^-2] observation.
RHIZOME_BIOMASS The below ground biomass from [grams] living and dead rhizomes on the [meter^-2] day of observation.
LIVE_FORB_ROOT_BIOMASS The below ground biomass from [grams] live forbs (non-grass, non-woody [meter^-2] vegetation) on the day of observation.
DEAD_FORB_ROOT_BIOMASS The below ground biomass from [grams] dead forbs (non-grass, non-woody [meter^-2] vegetation) on the day of observation.
COMMENTS Additional information on the data.
FIFE_DATA_CRTFCN_CODE ** The FIFE Certification Code for the data, in the following format: CPI (Certified by PI), CPI-??? (CPI - questionable data).
LAST_REVISION_DATE The last revision date for the data, in the format (DD-MMM-YY).
Footnotes:
* A 999 in a field means that no data were collected.
** Decode the FIFE_DATA_CRTFCN_CODE field as follows:
The primary certification codes are:
The certification code modifiers are:
SITEGRID_ID STATION_ID OBS_DATE MOW_HEIGHT MOW_FREQ FERTILIZER BURNED
----------- ---------- --------- ---------- -------- ---------- ------
2731-RBS 1 01-JUN-87 N B
2731-RBS 1 01-JUN-87 N B
2731-RBS 1 01-JUN-87 N B
2731-RBS 1 30-JUN-87 N B
LIVE_GRASS_ROOT_BIOMASS DEAD_GRASS_ROOT_BIOMASS RHIZOME_BIOMASS
----------------------- ----------------------- ---------------
334.3 408.9 -999.0
364.7 400.6 -999.0
237.6 287.4 -999.0
931.1 682.5 817.8
LIVE_FORB_ROOT_BIOMASS DEAD_FORB_ROOT_BIOMASS
---------------------- ----------------------
.0 .0
.0 .0
.0 .0
.0 .0
COMMENTS FIFE_DATA_CRTFCN_CODE
---------------------------------------- ---------------------
COLLECTED IN WATERSHED 1D CPI
COLLECTED IN WATERSHED 1D CPI
COLLECTED IN WATERSHED 1D CPI
COLLECTED IN WATERSHED 1D CPI
LAST_REVISION_DATE
------------------
16-JAN-92
16-JAN-92
16-JAN-92
16-JAN-92
These point data were collected during the growing season of 1987 from June 1, 1987 through November 12, 1987. Individual sites were sampled anywhere from one to nine times during this period. Most sites were sampled four or more times, usually during one of the FIFE IFC's in 1987.
A general description of data granularity as it applies to the IMS appears in the EOSDIS Glossary.
The CD-ROM file format consists of numerical and character fields of varying length separated by commas. The character fields are enclosed with a single apostrophe. There are no spaces between the fields. Each file begins with five header records. Header records contain the following information:
Each field represents one of the attributes listed in the chart in the Data Characteristics Section and described in detail in the TDF file. These fields are in the same order as in the chart.
Not provided by the investigator.
Data was submitted as gram per double core. The original values from the Principal Investigator have been multiplied by 276.3 to convert to [g][m^-2].
None.
The original values have been multiplied by 276.3 to convert to [g][m^-2].
Not available.
None.
The cores to 20 cm miss any roots growing below that depth. This leads to underestimation of total below-ground plant biomass. The separation techniques may leave some plant material with the soil material, and vice versa. These errors are in theory random and either over-estimating or underestimating actual biomass. In practice however, contaminating soil material in a plant sample is more likely to be removed by an operator than contaminating plant material in a soil sample.
The investigator has certified the data as correct.
This type of data is inherently difficult to collect, and subject to the errors delineated in the Sources of Error Section. Much of the sample processing was done by student employees and is therefore likely to contain unknown errors.
No quantitative assessment was made, see the Confidence Level/Accuracy Judgment Section.
FIS staff applied a general QA procedure to the data to identify inconsistencies and problems for potential users. As a general procedure, the FIS QA consisted of examining the maximum, minimum, average, and standard deviations that appeared inconsistent with the mean. In some cases, histograms were examined to determine whether outliers were consistent with the shape of the data distribution.
The discrepancies, that were identified, are reported as problems in the Known Problems with the Data Section.
The data verification performed by the ORNL DAAC deals with the quality of the data format, media, and readability. The ORNL DAAC does not make an assessment of the quality of the data itself except during the course of performing other QA procedures as described below.
The FIFE data were transferred to the ORNL DAAC via CD-ROM. These CD-ROMs are distributed by the ORNL DAAC unmodified as a set or in individual volumes, as requested. In addition, the DAAC has incorporated each of the 98 FIFE tabular datasets from the CD-ROMs into its online data holdings. Incorporation of these data involved the following steps:
Each distinct type of data (i.e. "data set" on the CD-ROM), is accompanied by a documentation file (i.e., .doc file) and a data format/structure definition file (i.e., .tdf file). The data format files on the CD-ROM are Oracle SQL commands (e.g., "create table") that can be used to set up a relational database table structure. This file provides column/variable names, character/numeric type, length, and format, and labels/comments. These SQL commands were converted to SAS code and were used to create SAS data sets and subsequently to input data files directly from the CD-ROM into a SAS dataset. During this process, file names and directory paths were captured and metadata was extracted to the extent possible electronically. No files were found to be corrupted or unreadable during the conversion process.
Additional Quality Assurance procedures were performed as follows:
As errors are discovered in the online tabular data by investigators, users, or DAAC staff, corrections are made in cooperation with the principal investigators. These corrections are then distributed to users. CD-ROM data are corrected when re-mastering occurs for replenishment of CD-ROM stock.
Not available.
As of the revision date of this document, the following discrepancies or errors in the data have been reported:
Results of the FIS staff quality assessment:
* Extreme high values were noted for the parameters listed below.
Values Number
Parameter Greater of
Than Occurrences
----------------------- ------ -----------
LIVE_GRASS_ROOT_BIOMASS 1005 2
DEAD_GRASS_ROOT_BIOMASS 1200 1
RHIZOME_BIOMASS 700 6
LIVE_FORB_ROOT_BIOMASS 70 20
DEAD_FORB_ROOT_BIOMASS 5 4
In as much as the values reported were really measured, care should be exercised in using the root biomass data especially the extremely high values.
None.
This data set provides a survey of root biomass.
The FIFE field campaigns were held in 1987 and 1989 and there are no plans for new data collection. Field work continues near the FIFE site at the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Konza research site (i.e., LTER continues to monitor the site). The FIFE investigators are continuing to analyze and model the data from the field campaigns to produce new data products.
Software to access the data set is available on the all volumes of the FIFE CD-ROM set. For a detailed description of the available software see the Software Description Document.
ORNL DAAC User Services
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Telephone: (865) 241-3952
FAX: (865) 574-4665
Email: ornldaac@ornl.gov
ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
USA
Telephone: (865) 241-3952
FAX: (865) 574-4665
Email: ornldaac@ornl.gov
Users may place requests by telephone, electronic mail, or FAX. Data is also available via the World Wide Web at http://daac.ornl.gov.
FIFE data are available from the ORNL DAAC. Please contact the ORNL DAAC User Services Office for the most current information about these data.
The Root Biomass data are available on FIFE CD-ROM Volume 1. The CD-ROM filename is as follows:
\DATA\BIOLOGY\ROOT_BIO\1987grid.RBM
Note: capital letters indicate fixed values that appear on the CD-ROM exactly as shown here, lower case indicates characters (values) that change for each path and file.
The format used for the filenames is: 1987grid.sfx, where grid is the four number code for the location within the FIFE site grid. The filename extension (.sfx), identifies the data set content for the file (see the Data Characteristics Section) and is equal to .RBM for this data set.
Smucker, A.J.M., S.L. McBurney and A.K. Srivastava. 1982. Quantitative separation of roots from compacted soil profiles by the hydropneumatic elutriation system. Agron. J. 74:500-503.
Hayes, D.C. and T.R. Seastadt. 1987. Root dynamics of tallgrass prairie in wet and dry years. Canadian J. Botany 65:787-791.
Turner, C.L., T.R. Seastadt and M.I. Dyer. 1993. Maximization of above-ground grassland production: The role of defoliation frequency, intensity, and history. Ecol. Applic. 3(1)175-186.
Contact the EOS Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, Tennessee (see the Data Center Identification Section). Documentation about using the archive and/or online access to the data at the ORNL DAAC is not available at this revision.
A general glossary for the DAAC is located at Glossary.
A general list of acronyms for the DAAC is available at Acronyms.
May 12, 1994 (citation revised on October 14, 2002).
Warning: This document has not been checked for technical or editorial accuracy by the FIFE Information Scientist. There may be inconsistencies with other documents, technical or editorial errors that were inadvertently introduced when the document was compiled or references to preliminary data that were not included on the final CD-ROM.
Previous versions of this document have been reviewed by the Principal Investigator, the person who transmitted the data to FIS, a FIS staff member, or a FIFE scientist generally familiar with the data.
December 11, 1996.
ORNL-FIFE_ROOT_BIO.
Seastedt, T. R., and C. L. Turner. 1994. Root Biomass Data (FIFE). Data set. Available on-line [http://www.daac.ornl.gov] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A. Also published in D. E. Strebel, D. R. Landis, K. F. Huemmrich, and B. W. Meeson (eds.), Collected Data of the First ISLSCP Field Experiment, Vol. 1: Surface Observations and Non-Image Data Sets. CD-ROM. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, U.S.A. (available from http://www.daac.ornl.gov).
http://daac.ornl.gov/FIFE/Datasets/Vegetation/Root_Biomass_Data.html